Polyethylene glycol/Cu/SiO₂ form stable composite phase change materials: preparation, characterization, and thermal conductivity enhancement

Abstract

Novel form-stable composite phase change materials (FS-CPCMs) of polyethylene glycol (PEG)/Cu/SiO2 were prepared by adding Cu powder to PEG and SiO2 via the ultrasound-assisted sol-gel method. This method ensures the uniform distribution of Cu powder in the FS-CPCMs, thus providing an important method to develop composite phase change materials (CPCMs) with a high thermal conductivity. The FS-CPCMs were characterized by various techniques. The results show that the FS-CPCMs remained in the solid state without leakage above the melting point of PEG. The XRD and FTIR results indicate that no new chemical bond was formed between the constituents of FS-CPCMs: Cu, PEG, and SiO2. The DSC and TGA analyses show that the FS-CPCMs had an optimum phase-change temperature, a high enthalpy of phase change, an excellent thermal stability, and a good form-stable performance. The thermal conductivity was 0.431W/(m K ) for 3.45 wt. % Cu powder in the FS-CPCMs, an increase of 49.13% compared to pure PEG.

Novel semi‐interpenetrating network structural phase change composites with high phase change enthalpy

“…The PC3D network with inherent phase change properties can bind PEG because of the formation of semi‐IPN structure. As a result of the superposition phase change effect of the PC3D network and PEG, the obtained composite materials presented high phase change enthalpies (169–195 J/g), which is much higher than most of traditional PEG‐based composites materials with shape‐stabilized property (e.g., 68–132 J/g) …”

Thermal Properties of PEG/Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNPs) Composite Phase Change Materials with Enhanced Thermal Conductivity and Photo-Thermal Performance

“…Hence, many prominent works have been done to obtain the PCMs with much higher thermal conductivity. A prevalent approach against this shortcoming is to incorporate the highly thermal conductive fillers into the PCMs, such as silver nanowire [19], Cu [20], TiO 2 nanoparticles [21]. Deng et al [19] achieved PEG-Ag/expanded vermiculite PCMs by the physical blending and impregnation method.…”

“…The thermal conductivity increased to 0.68 W/(mK) for 19.3 wt % silver nanowire in the composite PCMs, which was 11.3 times higher than that of pristine PEG. Zhang et al [20] prepared composite PCMs by adding Cu powder to PEG/SiO 2 through the sol-gel method, and discovered that the thermal conductivity of the composite PCMs reached up to 0.431 W/(mK) by an addition of 3.45 wt % Cu powder, which was enhanced by 49.13% in comparison with pure PEG. Harikrishnan et al [21] used a two-step method to prepare stearic acid-TiO 2 nanofluids PCMs.…”

An Efficient Environmentally Friendly Composite Material Based on Carbonized Biological Cellulose/Paraffin: Thermal and Sustainable Properties Analysis

“…There are two ways to improve the thermal conductivity. The first is to directly improve the thermal conductivity of the base material, for example, by preparing a novel copper‐powder‐sintered frame or an ultrathin‐graphite foam matrix . The second is to improve the thermal conductivity of the pure PCM, such as by the addition of highly dispersed carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, graphite, or metal nanowires .…”